BETTER THAN THE BEST ~ Amabel Daniels

I'm very happy to be sharing the book cover and blurb for

Amabel Daniels's debut novel, Better Than The Best,

which I had the privilege of beta-reading for her. I made

reference to my beta-reading experience with this novel

in these past blog posts:

November 5th, 2014

January 12th, 2015

Anyway, Amabel's book is out now, and I have my print copy ready to read again in its final, polished form! I can't wait. It's on my GoodReads "tbr" (see link below). Meanwhile, here is the cover, and the entertaining blurb:

A new beginning. Turning a leaf. All that crap.

After her divorce and the death of one of her patients, an ER nurse, Kelly Newland, searches for a fresh start in the little town of Churchston, unaware that trouble and danger has followed her. As she learns to accept her failures in life, she befriends some of the locals, except for one disgruntled man, the hero everybody loves to hate.

He could feel their stares on his back, their judgments hovering over their heads.

Will Parker suffers from PTSD, and as the black sheep of the sleepy lakeside community, he struggles to get back up on his feet. Initially, Kelly and Will mix like oil and water, but as a series of dangerous incidents strike the people closest to them, their antagonism turns from cool to hot. It is only when they realize it is impossible to resist each other that a killer closes in on them, threatening the love they've dared to find.

I really loved this book even in its rough form - it is very suspenseful, as well as romantic, and amusing. But I'll be putting up a proper review on GoodReads and so on once I've read the finished product.

Purchase links:

• Kindle US: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016J62QQE
• Kindle CA: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B016J62QQE
• Kindle AU: http://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B016J62QQE
• Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B016J62QQE
• iBook: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1048802737#
• Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/better-than-the-best-2
• B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/better-than-the-best-amabel-daniels/1122910560

Add it on GoodReads

Amabel's Website

A request for beta readers ... NOT for me ;)

I am pretty sure I mentioned on this blog sometime recently that I've been beta reading a novel for someone. The writer doesn't currently have an online presence, but will be looking into that. For now, she is seeking a beta reader or two to feast their fresh eyeballs on her work in progress. :)

Her initial description of the book:

"I have either a romance with suspense elements or a thriller with romantic elements.  Kind of stuck in between."

So I wound up reading it, and became mildly addicted. She only sent me bits at a time as she edited a few steps ahead of my reading, so I was always eagerly awaiting the next installment. She is currently going through her next round of edits, and asked me if I knew anyone who might be interested in reading through the next incarnation of the book.

I thought I'd share some quotes from emails I sent her while reading, to give you an idea of whether the book might be your cup of tea or not:

"I'm reading [your chapters] now and enjoying them - already had a laugh out loud moment, and am intrigued. And also chilled by the 'bad guy' of the story!"

"I finished the chapters, and really enjoyed them! I definitely want to read more, if you're happy to send them over. :) I found myself laughing loudly at a lot of the scenes, but it's also scary and suspenseful with the <character name redacted> factor.

I also am *very* interested in the developing romance element."

"I have finished all your chapters & am really eager to read on ;)My feeling so far is you have a really great story, and the chapters can use polishing ... but otherwise the story is great."

"Hey, finished reading this as well - definitely a game changer!!"

"I got up to the bit where <character name redacted>'s being confronted by the psycho - you're killing me with the suspense!! LOL."

Soooo, all that said, if you'd be interested in reading the novel after the current round of edits, please let me know and I will get you in touch with the writer. :)

Book review: RETRIBUTION by Jilliane Hoffman

Note: This review is taken from the GoodReads spoilerific version and stripped of spoilers, for public consumption.

It took me 7 and a bit days to finish this crime/thriller/whatever you wanna call it, which generally speaking for me is quite quick (I'm a slow reader). This book was not only easily consumed but, at times, hard to put down. Not only were we watching the present-day story of grisly murder play out, but we were also seeing main character C.J.'s own personal story unfold (or at least we were waiting to see what lay in her future as a result of her traumatic past). The two stories were, after all, intertwined.

RETRIBUTION was Jilliane Hoffman's debut novel, and I think she did a really good job. The psycho characters were maybe a little bit two dimensional - super crazy and scary, for sure, but with no apparent reason for being so. Being given no explanatory background for either character, I find that I'm still curious about how they turned out like they did. But then, some people are just born a certain way, right? Twisted, scary and basically nuts.

In general, I tended to have pretty strong feelings about Hoffman's characters - some of them I hated with a great passion, some I wanted to slap, and others I was cheering on with enthusiasm. As for main character C.J., I found myself at some moments saying, "Yeah, you go girl!" and at others muttering incredulously, "OMG, what are you doing? No! Stop!" And I guess that's how I like it. A tormented, imperfect main character makes things lots more interesting.

I gave this book 4/5 stars at GoodReads, 'cause while it's not a sheer mind-blowing 5, I didn't really have anything to criticise it for. And on the GoodReads note, I still haven't really figured out a proper rating system. Someday, I'll get there. ;)




In other news, it's Sunday, and so time for a Sunday Session in which I share with you the song I've been listening to the most in the last week! I received the new Silversun Pickups album in the mail early in the week, and have been listening ever since. Early impressions are it's a gorgeous album full of great wonders, but the song I've listened to most so far is the following:






I'm eagerly awaiting a video clip to see what these guys have done! Meanwhile, I'll mention that the song is about a friend of Brian Aubert's who had a horrible childhood but has overcome it and is prospering now. I think that's just awesome, and so is this band. Can't wait to see them live in concert again! Last time they put on a show that was one of my favourites of all time.